e-Learning for Educators
|Promoting Reading Comprehension in the Elementary Classroom*|
Research on reading comprehension has demonstrated that readers differ in how they approach reading and the meaning they construct from text. Researchers have found that good readers use specific strategies to comprehend text, and those instructional programs that explicitly teach these strategies have been successful in improving students’ comprehension. In this workshop, participants will examine teaching practices that help students in grades three through five develop concrete strategies for constructing meaning from both narrative and expository text. The goal for strategy instruction is to prepare students to become active and purposeful readers who think about their text before, during and after reading. Participants will also explore and implement instructional procedures that help students learn how to coordinate key comprehension strategies.
*This course was designed for participants who are currently teaching in an elementary school or who have previous experience teaching in and elementary school.
Research on reading comprehension has demonstrated that readers differ in how they approach reading and the meaning they construct from text. Researchers have found that good readers use specific strategies to comprehend text, and those instructional programs that explicitly teach these strategies have been successful in improving students comprehension. In this course, participants will examine teaching practices that help students in grades three through five develop concrete strategies for constructing meaning from both narrative and expository text. The goal for strategy instruction is to prepare students to become active and purposeful readers who think about their text before, during and after reading. Participants will also explore instructional procedures that help students learn how to coordinate key comprehension strategies.
Goals and Objectives
This course will enable participants to:
Identify comprehension strategies that are important to teach
Explore how to explicitly teach comprehension strategies and guide students’ practice in applying them
Help students build story schema (background knowledge about stories) by showing how narrative text has recurring elements (story grammar): characters, settings, conflicts, major events, resolutions, and themes
Help students draw on their story schema to make predictions about events, and consequences
Help students distinguish common text structures in informational text in order to better understand and recall the main ideas of the text
Help students understand how analyzing question-answer relationships (QAR) can be a useful strategy for approaching comprehension questions
Participants will complete a needs assessment to determine their current reading instructional practices. Throughout the course, participants will complete activities that they will add to a portfolio of their ideas from this course. Participants will leave the course with a toolkit of strategies and ideas to use in their own classrooms. As a final product, participants will evaluate their own comprehension instruction and program and develop an Action Plan for making changes to better support reading comprehension in the classroom. The plan will be evaluated according to the Action Plan Rubric. They will also share some of the files from their portfolio with the facilitator.
This is an introductory course for K-12 teachers, technology and curriculum specialists, school administrators, and other school personnel. Participants are expected to have regular access to computers. Participants should be proficient with using email and browsing the Internet.
This course is divided into seven one-week sessions: an Orientation, and six content-based session. Each content session includes readings, activities, and an online discussion among course participants. The time for completing each content session is estimated to be 6.5 to 7 seven hours.
Specific questions about assessment, expectations, or requirements should be directed to the facilitator of this course.
ETLO recommends that the following criteria be used to determine successful completion of this course:
Participation in all session discussion forums;
Completion of the course’s final project, submitted to the facilitator and/or posted in the appropriate discussion forum; and
Completion of the orientation and final course surveys.
Readings and Activities:
Orientation Quiz & Pre & Post Course Surveys:
Copyright and Plagiarism
All resources referenced during the course will be properly documented. Copyright guidelines are to be observed throughout the course project and all course activities. All work associated with course projects, course assignments and course discussions will be original to each course participant. Fair use does not apply to the course project.
Plagiarism, the reproduction of all or any part of another individual’s or organization’s work, by a course participant of work associated with the course project or other course assignments at any point during the course will result in no credit being awarded for the course.
All grades in the course gradebook must be a "C" for successful course completion. A grade of "C" indicates that all work has been completed and the work meets the expectations for that assignment.
The grade scheme for this course will be:
Certificates of Completion
Upon successful completion of this course, Promoting Reading Comprehension in the Elementary School, participants will receive a Certificate of Completion documenting successful completion of the course requirements. Certificates are distributed to each qualifying participant as a file attachment to the Session Six Dropbox shortly after the completion of the course. Certificates of Completion are not recognized as being an official course transcript.
Non-degree Graduate Credit Information
Participants in this course are eligible to receive non-degree graduate credits from either West Virginia University, Concord University, West Virginia State University or Marshall University. Credits will be awarded at the end of the semester in which the course occurs. Additional information is available on the course News/Welcome Page.
This course, Helping Struggling Readers Improve Comprehension, will help participants learn and apply the following Common Core English Language Arts Anchor Standards in their teaching:
Key Ideas and Details
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Acquisition and Use
© 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
This course will help teachers to enable their students to meet the following English Language Arts Standards as defined by the NCTE, The National Council of Teachers of English:
1: Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
2: Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
In addition, this course will help participants meet the following ISTE Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for All Teachers: [show]
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS. Teachers:
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.
For more information about Technology Integration visit: http://www.iste.org
About this Course
This course was developed by EdTech Leaders Online (http://edtechleaders.org) at Education Development Center, in partnership with Alabama Public Television (http://www.aptv.org/), and the e-Learning for Educators project, funded by a US Department of Education Ready to Teach grant. EdTech Leaders Online provides capacity building training and online courses for school districts, state departments of education, and colleges and universities. Alabama Public Television is the nation's first educational television network and is the lead agency coordinating the eight state E-Learning for Educators collaboration, comprised of state departments of education and public television stations in Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.